Product Details

• Released on: 2002-03-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: NTSC, Import
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 75 minutes

From Amazon.com
What's a single woman with beauty and property to do in the medieval world? The mercenary attentions of the single village men send the grieving young widow Mistress Pearle (Kitty Aldridge) fleeing town, and her return a year later rekindles the competition with a vengeance. Call on Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi), the spiritual Sherlock Holmes of the Dark Ages, when the young monk tending her rose garden is found dead and the widow herself disappears a day later. Cadfael suspects the brooding bronzesmith (the gruff Tom Mannion) who rents her cottage, but he's not the only man in town with secrets. Jacobi is a delight as the medieval humanist, and he's matched by the worldly Sister Magdalen (Sarah Badel, reprising her role from "The Leper of St. Giles"). Their flirtatious scenes remind us they both led vivid lives before taking the vows.

The DVD features a few minutes of audio comments by Derek Jacobi, who ruminates on the role; a gallery of production stills; brief filmographies on the featured cast; and a biography and booklist for author Ellis Peters. --Sean Axmaker

Synopsis
After Brother Eluric, a young monk, begins courting a beautiful young widow in Shrewsbury town he is found brutally murdered. Cadfael's (Derek Jacobi) ensuing investigation lead from Eluric's death to another murder, which exposes the greed and hypocrisy at work amongst the town's residents. The widow, meanwhile, has no interest in any of her numerous suitors, but ends up finding love with a very unlikely candidate for her affections. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

DVD Menu

• Side #1 --
  • Play Feature
  • Special Features
    • Ellis Peters
      • Biography
      • The Brother Cadfael Chronicles
    • Sir Derek Jacobi (Audio)
    • Production Scrapbook
    • Filmographies
      • Sir Derek Jacobi
      • Kitty Aldridge
      • Tom Mannion
      • Crispin Bonham-Carter
  • Setup
    • English Captions for the Hearing Impaired: On
    • English Captions for the Hearing Impaired: Off

Customer Reviews

"We have this moment for good or ill"
The Rose rent is a great mystery and in the course of being solved leads people to evaluate what has worth in life. A young widow must now face the fact that she may have killed her husband and also plan the rest of her life.

Of course people die and Brother Cadfael uses forensics to determine who the murderer(s) are and the motive/s. You get more then sufficient clues on the way.

My favorite quote is in the morning as they are ringing the morning bell; someone asks Cadfael, "Are you awake?" and Cadfael staggering "No. But I am out of bed."

Mostly in light of the faithfulness of the adaptation
Screenwriter Christopher Russell also adapted _A Morbid Taste for Bones_. As with _Bones_, Russell has tinkered with events in the story so that most suspects' motives are played in the key "crime of passion" instead of being mixed judiciously with "crime for gain". Little changes have been made in many background details, such as adapting characters' names to modern ears and eliminating some suspects' potential henchmen and non-romantic entanglements (easier on the budget but at the cost of puzzle and characterization). I find all those points of difference irritating, like midges; the really annoying points are where the major characters have been reinterpreted, or shown acting out of character.

Rather than trimming the beginning of the story, Russell has added material, starting 4 years before the opening of the book, upon the death of Edred Perle (here "Edward"). Quite against his nature as drawn by Ellis Peters, Cadfael helps Judith Perle perform a mercy-killing (conveniently, no priest is present). For Cadfael's true opinion on such use of the means of healing, read _Monk's Hood_ and _The Potter's Field_. A much smaller nitpick is that the abbot wouldn't have conducted Edred's funeral; that's the job of Holy Cross' parish priest, who at that time would've been old Father Adam.

Judith's character herein differs from the original, who let others see only one gesture of passion and grief: deeding away the house where she'd been happy to the abbey. The charter's wording (here presented when drawn up) is subtly different - rather than being an almost-free gift, prayers for "Edward's" soul are now added to the rose rent, making it a more ordinary transaction. A more persistent reminder of Judith's different characterization as a weaker, weepier woman is that she flinches from pushy suitors, not even meeting their eyes - no aura of calm self-possession here. I find the reinterpreted character exasperating in her own right, adaptation issues aside. Cadfael's remark that she's too strong to take her own life - which he didn't even have to make in the book - no longer seems justified.

In the book, the charter paid for the lighting of Mary's altar, so its impressionable young custodian delivered the rent, with predictable results from his first prolonged acquaintance with a still-young woman. The background of the rose rent was filled in by reviewing the charter, rather than with flashback. Now the monks of Shrewsbury (rather than their tenant Niall) care for the rosebush personally, with Eluric as one of Cadfael's helpers. Eluric's suffering over Judith receives much more play than other aspects of his character (granted, that was predominant anyway).

Each of Judith's suitors has undergone modification. Godfrey Fuller's proposal is more emotional appeal than straight business proposition; Judith's rejection is portrayed with cringing revulsion rather than polite, firm refusal of a long-time business associate. Vivian (now "Thomas") Hynde has lost both his name and his ominous sidekick. Bertred the weaver, paradoxically, is more ingenuous and less of a social climber - but his mother's character has been eliminated and his relationship with Judith's maid emphasized. Even Judith's cousin Miles is now a would-be suitor - although the blood relationship was too close without formal dispensation in those days.

Rather than 4 years - about the length of time Niall's been widowed - Judith's only been widowed for a year or so when murderous events are set in motion. Originally she sought out Sister Magdalen for advice on the cloister before any violence in the story, but now the events are reversed. The attack on the rosebush is now far more subtle - white lead poisoning - but this provides *less* of a motive for a murderer, being less traceable. Judith's thoughts of the convent now are driven by guilt, not only over the rose rent resulting in a death, but a reawakening interest in men.

Prior Robert replaces Anselm in the meet-the-corpse scene, and Radulfus is amazingly careless with the details of Eluric's confession in the hearing of even laypeople like Niall. Niall Bronzesmith's personality bears no resemblance to the original; here his late wife died not in childbirth, but in a suspicious accident with a lover. He's embittered, rather than being a quiet pillar of society.

After Cadfael takes a wax impression of the murderer's footprint in the garden, Cadfael actually objects to Oswin's suggestion of consulting the town cobblers, saying that the murderer would destroy all his footgear. However, Cadfael has more than once snared a killer who couldn't financially afford to destroy incriminating clothing - quite apart from being unable to launder or replace it easily in the 12th century. Even in the 15th century Dame Frevisse novels, the same scenario is plausible.

Last point: Eoin McCarthy (who played Thomas Pitt in the 1998 adaptation of _The Cater Street Hangman_) seems miscast as Hugh Beringar, being a big bluff blond type giving an easy-going impression. For Beringar, I prefer Sean Pertwee, the wiry clever-faced actor who first took the role.

Excellent Cadfael, especially for women
One of the best in Cadfael series and my wife's favorite. An excellent story based in the life long romance between the lord of the manor and his wife. The lord succumbs to a toturous illness and his wife bequeaths the estate to the Abby at Shewbury. In return for the manor and its lands, the Abby must provide lodging for the wife and a rather special rent.

The rent? Only a rose cut from the rose bush on the manor grounds. However, this isn't just any old rose bush, but rather the one her husband use to cut roses from for his love in life: a remembrance of the great love they shared.

Well this all sounds great deal for the Abby, so what's the problem? Get "The Rose Rent" and find out.